In general, two methods for removing snow accumulated on a road in winter are as follows. One is to spray a deicing agent or chloride solution on the road while driving on the road after loading a CaCl2 sand spreader and a chloride solution spreader and the like in a loading space of a vehicle. The other is to equip the front of the vehicle with a snowplow, and then to push out the accumulated snow and pressed snow to roadsides while driving on the road.
Another method other than the snow removal operation using the spreader and snowplow is to forcedly inhale a relatively large amount of snow by using a snowblower and then to throw the snow to the roadside.
The snowblower not only cuts down a large amount of snow but also forcedly inhale the cut snow through a strong inhaling force and then to throw the snow to the roadside. Therefore, the snowblower is able to effectively remove a great deal of accumulated snowfall that cannot be removed by using the spreader or snowplow.
However, unlike an outer road or a general road, a city road side is generally narrow, and the thrown to the roadside by the snowblower is accumulated on the roadside as it is. After a part of the accumulated snow is melted in the daytime in which the temperature rises and then is introduced into the road, the snow is frozen in the evening in which the temperature falls and freezes the road again.
Most snow remaining on the roadside without being melted looks ugly in the road and particularly may be expected to be an obstacle threatening a driver at night. The melted snow with the lapse of much time is introduced into a dry road, and thus pollutes the road and driving vehicles.
To overcome the aforementioned problems, in the past, a receiver and a melter are mounted on a vehicle, and then the snow inhaled from the snowblower is melted at a high temperature and is discharged in the form of melted liquid.
One example of a conventional snow melter will be described as follows with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
The conventional snow melter mainly includes a snowblower 2, a transfer pipe 3, a receiver 4 and a melter 5. The snowblower 2 inhales accumulated snow at a high pressure. The transfer pipe 3 transfers the snow inhaled from the snowblower 2. The receiver 4 receives the snow transferred from the transfer pipe 3. The melter 5 melts the received snow by using high temperature water vapor.
The melter 5 includes a combustion furnace 20, an air blower 10, a boiling chamber 30 and a spray jacket 40. The combustion furnace 20 generates high temperature combustion gas by using a burner. The air blower 10 supplies outside air to the combustion furnace 20 and provides a blowing force to the combustion gas. The boiling chamber 30 has one end which is integrally connected and installed to the combustion furnace 20 and has the other end which is located within the receiver 4. The boiling chamber 30 also includes a bottom plate 32 airtightly installed in the lower portion of the boiling chamber 30 and includes a plurality of outlets 34 formed horizontally along the outer circumference of the lower portion of the boiling chamber 30. The spray jacket 40 is formed to surround the boiling chamber 30 and melts the snow by discharging high temperature water vapor discharged through the outlet 34 to a water vapor outlet 42.
The snow inhaled from the snowblower 2 is thrown to the receiver 4 through the transfer pipe 3. Here, the thrown snow is first melted through the water vapor outlet 42 formed in the spray jacket 40 and then the melted snow is accumulated in the receiver 4 and is subsequently melted.
The configuration of the combustion furnace 20, the boiling chamber 30 and the spray jacket 40 will be described in more detail as follows with reference to FIG. 2.
High temperature gas generated in the combustion furnace 20 moves by the air blower 10 to the boiling chamber 30 connected to the combustion furnace 20. The boiling chamber 30 is located within the receiver 4 and is configured to melt the snow accumulated in the receiver 4 and boil the melted liquid by using the high temperature gas from the combustion furnace 20.
A large amount of water vapor can be rapidly generated in the boiling chamber 30 through the spray jacket 40 which is placed to surround the boiling chamber 30. The spray jacket 40 causes the generated water vapor to be discharged through the water vapor outlet 42 formed in the upper portion thereof.
Here, the water vapor outlet 42 is placed along a direction in which the snow is dropped from the transfer pipe 3, so that the water vapor discharged from the water vapor outlet 42 is sprayed onto the dropped snow. Accordingly, it is possible to more effectively melt the accumulated snow.
As such, since the conventional snow melter configured as such melts and discharges the accumulated snow by using the melter 5, the accumulated snow can be more effectively melted and removed. However, a problem has occurred in the transfer pipe 3 transferring the snow inhaled from the snowblower 2 to the receiver 4.
In other words, the snow transferred at a high pressure through the snowblower 2 is absorbed on the inner wall of the transfer pipe 3, and the absorbed snow is frozen. As a result, the transfer pipe 3 is blocked.